Mike Consol teaches public speaking, PowerPoint presentation skills and business writing to companies and business professionals in the Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose Bay Area. Contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 925-449-1040.

Organizations are filled with people who are accumulators of knowledge and new skills. These are people who have a learning orientation. Others have an idea orientation and are capable of coming up with all kinds of bright ideas to help their organizations, but so often they never seem to get their ideas approved and funded. Why would people who have an abundance of knowledge and terrific ideas be marginalized in this way? The answer is that far too few people have a performance orientation. (Click on the headline to continue reading.)

All business professionals have had one of these two experiences. Number one: We see a colleague’s writing for the first time and are astounded to discover how poorly he or she writes. Our opinion of their professionalism immediately declines. Number two: We see a colleague’s writing and find ourselves thoroughly impressed by their command of the language and their ability to communicate with the written word. Our opinion of their professionalism immediately grows. This video elaborates. Click on the headline to play.

There are innumerable considerations and techniques to take into account when creating and delivering a PowerPoint presentation. Here are five important ones that can help make a difference between a good or bad presentation. (Click the headline to view this video.)